Fill your freezer with pork raised for your table
We’re Brian and Maci. We raise Black Beauty hogs on pasture at our veteran-owned farm in Daleville, Indiana. Tell us what your household likes to cook, and we’ll help you plan your order. Our usual processor is Fisher Meats in Portland, Indiana.
First time buying a whole hog? Start with how it works, then use the cut guide when you’re ready.
How it works · Pricing · Pork cut map · Sample cut sheets · Freezer space · Packaging & storage · Ask about availability
How Grow-Out Works
- Ask about the next opening. Tell us when you’d like pork. We’ll confirm availability and the anticipated processing window before you pay.
- Reserve your hog. A $100 non-refundable holding fee secures your spot once we confirm availability. We put time into breeding, feeding, and caring for your hog months before processing. The fee helps cover part of that early work and holds your spot. You pay it separately, and it is never credited toward the hog balance.
- Choose a size or timeframe. Ask about a smaller roaster, such as a 40- or 60-pound hog, a grow-out of 8–10 months, or a longer stay on the farm. For a full grow-out, think February-born to December processing. We’ll plan around your preferred size or timing and confirm a processing date. Fisher Meats in Portland is our usual processor. If you prefer another processor within a reasonable distance, let us know when you inquire so we can confirm availability and coordinate drop-off. Tell us your goal early so we can confirm what weight you have in mind and book the processor with enough lead time.
- Pay your hog balance and coordinate your cuts and pickup. Once your processor reports the hanging weight, DaleWood will email your final hog invoice at $2.75 per pound. After you pay DaleWood, work directly with your processor on your cut sheet and pickup. The processor bills you separately for processing and any extras. Check the cut-sheet deadline when you book.
Processing options. If you choose custom-exempt processing, you must own the live hog before slaughter and retain ownership through processing. Coordinate your cut sheet and pickup directly with Fisher Meats if they’re handling your order. The meat is for personal use and is labeled “Not for Sale.” If you need USDA-inspected processing for resale, tell us when you inquire so we can confirm the arrangement with the processor before booking.
What Will It Cost?
$100 non-refundable holding fee to reserve your spot · $2.75/lb hanging weight paid to DaleWood · Processing paid separately to your processor. The holding fee does not reduce the hog balance.
Here’s a budgeting example for a hog with a 200 lb hanging weight.
- Separate holding fee paid to DaleWood: $100 (no credit toward the hog balance)
- Hog balance paid to DaleWood: 200 lb × $2.75 = $550
- Example base processing at $0.99/lb: $198, paid to Fisher Meats
- Illustrative total: $848 before processing extras.
This example uses a sample weight and a base processing rate for illustration. Actual hanging weight, Fisher Meats’ current rates, and choices such as smoking, curing or specialty sausage can change the final total. Confirm current processing charges before reserving.
At 200 lb hanging weight, the DaleWood farm charge is $650 including the holding fee. For comparison, two Indiana farms published whole-hog base rates of $4.50 and $6.50 per pound of hanging weight. At the same 200 lb, those rates work out to $900 and $1,300. All three figures exclude processing.
Pricing sources and comparison date
Checked November 12, 2026. Howe Farms’ published whole-hog rate (opens another site) and Wildcat Valley Farms’ published whole-hog rate (opens another site). The comparison uses their base rates and excludes any separate competitor fees. Prices can change.
Your processor confirms your processing cost based on your cut sheet.
How Much Pork Comes Home?
Live weight is what the hog weighs on the farm. Hanging weight is what the dressed carcass weighs at the processor before it’s cut and trimmed. That is the weight DaleWood uses to calculate the hog balance. Take-home weight is what you actually put in your freezer. Bone-in cuts keep the bone in the package. Boneless cuts take up less room, and keeping bones, fat, or other parts can change how much you bring home. Use the freezer planning guide below to estimate space.
Explore the Hog, From Shoulder to Ham
Your cut sheet tells the butcher what to make from each part of the hog. Tap a numbered link below the diagram, then open its section to see what you can keep whole, slice, or put into the grind.
1 Shoulder · 2 Loin & sirloin · 3 Belly & ribs · 4 Ham & hocks · 5 Jowl & fat
Shoulder · Boston butt, shoulder steaks, roasts and cutlets
The Boston butt is the upper shoulder and can be left whole for pulled pork. Fisher lists pork steaks, shoulder roasts, cutlets and sausage for the shoulder. If you like steaks or slow-cooked roasts, ask about bone-in cuts. If you prefer a boneless roast or more sausage, ask what the processor can do with the same section.
The lower shoulder is also called the picnic. Ask whether it can be kept whole or cut separately. Shoulder roasts and steaks have more connective tissue than loin cuts. Slow cooking helps them become tender, whether you’re making carnitas, pulled pork, or a braise.
Loin & sirloin · Chops, roasts and cutlets
Choose bone-in or boneless chops and ask about thickness. A boneless loin can also be kept as a roast, sliced, tenderized or directed to sausage. The sirloin end can become roasts, end chops, cutlets or sausage. A portion you keep as a roast won’t also come back as chops.
Ask about single-sliced or butterflied boneless chops. The sirloin is the rear end of the loin. It can give you end chops, a small roast, cutlets, or sausage. A cutlet is a thin piece you can bread for a sandwich or tonkatsu. A loin roast is leaner than shoulder and works well sliced. Ask if the tenderloin can be separated and how that affects bone-in chops.
Belly and ribs · Bacon, fresh side and spare ribs
Choose cured bacon or fresh side from the belly, or ask about using the side for sausage. Spare ribs can be left whole or split. Country-style ribs are a separate cut-sheet choice listed with the loin, where Fisher also lists chops or sausage as alternatives.
Fresh side is uncured belly. Bacon is belly that has been cured and often smoked. Spare ribs are flatter and come from lower on the rib cage. St. Louis ribs are spare ribs trimmed into a rectangle. Baby backs are smaller, curved ribs from near the loin. Ask Fisher about baby backs and St. Louis trimming. Country-style ribs are meatier pieces and can be bone-in or boneless depending on the cut.
Ham & hocks · Ham steaks, fresh roasts and soup cuts
The hind leg can be left fresh for roasts or cutlets, smoked for whole or half hams or sliced portions, or used for sausage. Ask Fisher which cuts can be done bone-in or boneless. Hocks can be fresh or smoked for beans and soups, or you can ask about directing that section to sausage.
A fresh ham is an uncured hind-leg roast. Choose fresh if you want to season it yourself. If you cook smaller meals, ask Fisher to slice the smoked ham into steaks or smaller portions for breakfast, sandwiches, or dinner. If you like a holiday ham, ask for a whole or half ham. Hocks are bony lower-leg cuts. Slow-cook one with beans, greens, or soup for flavor and body.
Jowl and fat · Jowl bacon and lard
Ask about jowl bacon or using the jowl for sausage. Jowl bacon and bacon ends can season beans or greens. Ask Fisher whether bacon ends can be packed separately. Fisher’s guide also has a lard option. Confirm whether you’re getting rendered lard or fat back for home rendering, and ask which bones or other parts can be saved for you.
Lard is pork fat that has been rendered, meaning the fat has been melted and separated from the solids. Use it in place of shortening in biscuits or pie crust, or in place of some cooking oil for roasting or frying. If you want to render your own or save neck bones, tongue, or other parts, ask Fisher what they can return.
Build a Low-Waste Cut Sheet
Start with what you already cook. If your household goes through ground meat and sausage faster than roasts, ask Fisher which sections can go into a grind. Ask about unseasoned ground pork, or choose sausage in bulk, patties or links. Keep a few favorites, such as chops or bacon, and ask about saving bones for stock, hocks for beans, or fat for lard. Tell the processor what you want saved when you fill out the cut sheet.
Here’s one way to fill out your sheet if ground meat is what you use most: keep the loin for chops, cure the belly for bacon, and ask to put the shoulder or ham into the grind. Ask for plain ground pork if you like to season it yourself. Fisher lists bulk sausage, patties, stuffed links, brats and smoked sausage. Ask which seasonings and pack sizes work for your order. Each choice uses meat from that section. Fisher can confirm what works for your hog’s size and what costs extra.
Three Cut Sheets to Start With
These are sample requests you can adapt. Confirm thickness, package counts, and special cuts with Fisher. Four chops per package is a packing request. Four packages is a total quantity that depends on your hog and how you divide the loin.
Family of four · Everyday meals
Ask about four chops per pack and choose thinner chops for quick skillet meals or thicker chops for grilling. Request shoulder roasts sized for a meal and leftovers, and 1 lb packages of plain ground pork or bulk sausage.
Ground pork and sausage · Weeknight staples
Keep a few chops and bacon. Ask to grind more shoulder or ham. Request 1 lb packs of unseasoned ground pork for tacos, dumplings, or meatballs. Ask about dividing the rest between bulk sausage, patties, or links.
Grill, smoke and slow cook · Bigger cuts
Ask about 1-inch chops, shoulder steaks, a whole Boston butt, and whole or split spare ribs. Keeping a butt whole uses that section of shoulder, so ask how much remains for steaks or the grind.
Plan Your Freezer and Pickup
Choose live, hanging, or packaged weight to estimate how much room to clear in your freezer and what to bring for pickup.
The planner uses about 72% of live weight for hanging weight and 65–74% of hanging weight for packaged pork. These are planning figures for a finished hog. A small roaster, trimming, bone-in selections, and bulky packages can change the result. If you already know your packaged weight, divide it by 35 for a quick freezer estimate in cubic feet. For example, 140 lb takes about 4 cubic feet, or about 120 quarts of meat space before cold packs and packing gaps.
Vacuum Sealing, Freezer Life and Package Dates
Vacuum sealing pulls air out before sealing the pouch. Less air exposure helps reduce freezer burn. The packages still need refrigeration or freezing. At a steady 0°F, frozen food stays safe indefinitely, and storage times below are about best quality.
For best frozen quality, plan on 4–12 months for fresh pork chops and roasts, 3–4 months for plain ground pork, and about 1 month for bacon. Sausage and ham vary by type. Check the federal storage chart (opens another site) for your cut. Thaw in the refrigerator and follow the handling instructions on your package.
Packed on tells you when the meat was packaged. Sell by helps the store manage stock. Best if used by points to peak quality. Follow any processor use-by and storage instructions. Label packages with your freeze date and use the oldest ones first.
Fisher Meats in Portland, Indiana
Call the Portland location at (260) 726-7355 for cut-sheet questions. The Portland store is at 300 W. Walnut St., Portland, IN 47371. Follow the pickup instructions we send for your order.
Ask About Freezer Pork
Tell us when you want pork, roughly what size you have in mind, and which cuts your family eats most. We’ll reply with the next opening and help you work out the details before you reserve.
Looking for a few cuts now? Shop DaleWood Market. Want to raise a pig yourself? Explore Black Beauty Piglets.